TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - US President George W. Bush is likely to urge Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to pursue structural reforms, while downplaying the role of exports in a recovery, Glenn Hubbard, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, told Japanese reporters in Washington yesterday. The comments come before Bush meets Koizumi during a three-day trip to Tokyo starting Sunday. Bush would probably not use a forceful tone during the talks, Hubbard said. "I think he will give quiet advice from a friend. I don't expect the president to use harsh words -- that's not his style, that's not the way he does business with Japan," he said. Hubbard warned it would be a "mistake" for Japan to try to revive its economy through advocating a weaker currency without promoting Koizumi's drastic reform plan. "There's no way Japan can export itself out of its problem without fixing the non-performing assets and changing the monetary policy," Hubbard said. "The big problem is what I would call non-performing assets -- the capital and the savings of the Japanese people haven't been put to the highest value uses," he said. He also expressed disappointment with the pace of reforms by the Koizumi administration to deal with bad loans of Japanese banks. "I think the issue is implementation and the speed with which it is resolved. I think the Koizumi administration has to make its own decisions about that timetable," he said.